Welcome to Week In Review…
From new tools transforming creative work, to campaigns reshaped by automation, we track the biggest shifts at the intersection of AI, media, and marketing. This week, Snap strikes a lucrative deal with Perplexity to power in-app search, Apple to supercharge Siri with Gemini, and Amazon sues Perplexity for disguising AI agents as customers.
Top Stories of the Week
Snap Strikes $400m AI Deal with Perplexity
Snap announced a $400m partnership with Perplexity to integrate the startup’s AI-powered search engine into Snapchat from 2026, sending shares up 14 per cent after hours. The deal, paid in cash and equity, opens a new revenue stream amid Snap’s ad struggles.
Why it matters: Snap’s ad model has struggled so far gaining only 1 percent growth in North America in the third-quarter of this year. Through adding a search-based interface powered by AI to the platform, Snap gains new ad opportunities such as sponsored answers in search results, real-time product search, and more granular intent data.
Apple to Pay $1 Billion a Year for Gemini AI to Power Revamped Siri
Apple is finalising a $1 bn-a-year deal with Google to use its Gemini AI model to overhaul Siri, sources say. The partnership will support Siri’s new summarising and planning functions, with data processed on Apple’s own servers. The revamped assistant, code-named Linwood, is expected in 2026. Apple aims to rely on Gemini only temporarily as it develops its own trillion-parameter model.
Why it matters: An AI-enabled Apple voice assistant could dramatically shift the way consumers search, browse, and discover content. If Siri starts summarising media content or searching for brand products, it could bypass traditional ad channels, and acts as a major step in the use of voice in AI chatbots.
Amazon Sues Perplexity AI Over Unauthorised Shopping Bot Activity
Amazon has filed a lawsuit against Perplexity AI, accusing the startup of illegally accessing the e-commerce platform through its Comet browser and disguising its AI crawlers as human activity. The tech giant claims Perplexity ignored warnings and compromised data security. Perplexity denied wrongdoing, calling Amazon’s actions “bullying” meant to stifle innovation.
Why it matters: The dispute spotlights tensions over regulating AI agents that automate online shopping, as both companies race to develop AI-powered assistants such as Amazon’s Rufus. The lawsuit signals the potential challenges around the possible widespread use of AI agents to shop – a trend which some spectators have called hypothetical.
Quote of the Week
Brands & Agencies
Nissan Sees Engagement Boost With AI-Driven WhatsApp Campaign
Automotive brand Nissan Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) reported a 200 percent engagement increase following an agentic AI campaign. The brand used AI tools from Infobip, a telecommunications service provider, including an AI-powered voice feature where users could compete to win a Nissan product within WhatsApp.
Pantone and Microsoft Partner For AI Creative Capabilities
Global colour authority Pantone announced a partnership with Microsoft to help designers and creators leverage AI tools in their workflows. This includes Pantone Palette Generator, a tool built upon Microsoft Azure OpenAI which combines colour psychology and current trends to create innovative design concepts.
Human Voices Still Win in the Age of AI, Levanta Study Shows
Most (87 percent) online shoppers turn to trusted creators and blogs for product recommendations rather than AI recommendations (10 percent), research from affiliate marketing platform Levanta showed. The report also found that AI systems rely on content from platforms like YouTube to generate product recommendations.
StrawberryFrog Launches AI-Built Retro Video Game ‘Outleap’
Creative agency StrawberryFrog has developed Outleap, an ’80s-style arcade game built entirely with AI tools. The internal project evolved into a full showcase of AI-driven creativity, symbolising agility amid industry consolidation. AI tools like Midjourney, Runway, Ludo.AI, ChatGPT, Gemini (Nano Banana), Suno, Cursor and Claude were used to create the video game.
WPP Partners with Sightly for AI Brand Intelligence
WPP has partnered with analytics firm Sightly to integrate its AI-powered Brand Mentality platform, linking brand analytics with real-time social data. The development will enable WPP clients act on data insights faster.
Brand Networks Unveils AI TV Ads for Small Businesses
Brand Networks has launched a new AI-driven capability within its Aimy platform, powered by Comcast’s Universal Ads API, enabling small and mid-sized businesses to plan, run, and measure premium connected TV campaigns – offering affordable, automated access to TV advertising once limited to major brands.
Dentsu B2B Unveils 2025 Superpowers Index
Dentsu B2B’s Superpowers Index 2025 – based on over 6,000 global B2B decision-maker interviews – finds AI now drives 77 percent of buying processes. Trust, ease, and speed define success, with top-performing brands closing deals 31 percent faster and earning higher-value opportunities.
90% of Advertisers Expect AI-Driven Automation to Drive Business Growth, TikTok Research Shows
Nine in ten advertisers and executives believe AI-driven automation will drive business growth and improve job performance, research from TikTok and market research company NewtonX revealed. The study found only 19 percent of the surveyed marketing professionals have fully integrated AI into their business operations, citing a lack of skills and data issues as major barriers to implementation.
Study Finds 61% of Marketers Say AI Has Increased Their Workloads, Not Reduced Them
A new report from agentic platform Maybe, The Big AI Secret, reveals 61 percent of marketers say AI has added to workloads despite widespread adoption. Data quality, tool fragmentation, and skills gaps remain key barriers, with only 12 percent reporting consistent ROI from AI initiatives.
Coca-Cola Unveils Fully AI-Generated 2025 Christmas Ad
Coca-Cola has released its 2025 Christmas ad, created entirely with AI by Secret Level and Silverside AI. The new spot reimagines the iconic Holidays Are Coming campaign using only animals, following last year’s controversial AI ad that drew industry backlash.
Media
UK Media Leaders Urge Starmer to Protect Journalism from AI
BBC, Sky, ITN, and the News Media Association have urged Prime Minister Keir Starmer to back trusted journalism amid rising online misinformation. Their Journalism Matters campaign warns AI-driven content threatens media integrity and calls for stronger competition powers against tech giants.
Stability AI Wins Against Getty Images Over Copyright Use
Stability AI has won a landmark UK High Court case against Getty Images, which alleged copyright infringement over AI training data. The judge ruled Stability’s image generation model Stable Diffusion didn’t store or reproduce copyrighted works, marking a major setback for creators seeking stronger AI copyright protections.
Survey Finds Most Writers See AI as Both Threat and Opportunity
A new study, A.I. and The Writing Profession, surveying 1,481 writers, found 61 percent use AI tools – mainly ChatGPT – to boost productivity by 31 percent. While 90 percent worry about factual errors, many acknowledge AI’s benefits, with freelancers reporting mixed impacts on writing demand.
Meta Launches ‘Vibes’ To Europe
Meta brought ‘Vibes,’ its platform with solely AI-generated shortform video content, to European users. The feed, which was released in the US in September, is available in the Meta AI app. Users can create and share their ‘AI Slop’ video creations, from cats baking cakes to a sky raining spaghetti.
News Corp Reports Revenue Growth, Addresses AI Companies
News Corp, owner of publications like The Wall Street Journal and The Times, reported a 2 percent revenue increase to $2.14bn. The company’s CEO Robert Thomson addressed AI firms in a statement, urging the tech companies to fairly compensate publishers for content and data use.
People Inc. Signs AI Licensing Deal With Microsoft
Ad tech firm People Inc. established a licensing agreement with Microsoft, the company’s CEO announced. The deal means People Inc.’s content will be used by Microsoft’s Copilot AI assistant, and the publisher will receive compensation in return.
Studio Ghibli Studio Owner Challenges Sora 2 Over AI Training
The Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA), a Japanese trade group representing studios like Studio Ghibli, Square Enix, and Bandai Namco, formally requested that OpenAI stop using the studios’ copyrighted material to train Sora 2. Since its release, the AI video generation model has allowed users to replicate characters from the films, which the CODA states may be constituted as copyright infringement.
Web Creator Tim Berners-Lee Warns AI Could Upend Online Advertising Model
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the open web, cautioned that GenAI threatens the internet’s ad-driven economy, as LLMs bypass websites and deliver answers directly to users. Speaking at the FT Future of AI Summit, he urged a rethink of web monetisation amid rising privacy and control concerns.
Tech
Adobe Report Finds A Third of Indian Consumers Already Using Agentic AI
Adobe’s From Assistants to Agents report reveals 33 percent of Indian consumers already use agentic AI – surpassing APAC averages – with 44 percent planning adoption next year. Usage is strongest among millennials, transforming shopping, travel, and banking as AI shifts from assisting to autonomously acting in daily life.
Google to Add Nano Banana AI Image Editor to Google Messages
Google is expanding its Nano Banana AI image editor to Google Messages, enabling in-app image “Remix” editing. Users will soon transform photos with text prompts or suggestions directly in chats, though edits happen via Google’s servers, raising privacy concerns among early testers.
Meta Projected $16 Billion in Annual Revenue from Scam and Banned Ads
Reuters reports internal Meta documents showing the company expected about 10 percent of 2024 revenue – $16bn – from scam and prohibited ads. Despite flagging 15bn risky ads daily, Meta delayed stricter enforcement to protect revenue, prompting regulatory scrutiny over its role in global online fraud.
GWI Integrates Its Human-Centric Data with Anthropic’s Claude AI Assistant
Insights company GWI has integrated its audience insights platform with Anthropic’s Claude via Model Context Protocol, letting users access bias-checked consumer data directly in chat. The partnership delivers human-driven insights to AI tools, with upcoming integrations planned for Salesforce and ChatGPT.
Snowflake Launches Enterprise-Geared Agentic AI Tools
AI startup Snowflake launched “Snowflake Intelligence,” an enterprise intelligence agent. The product allows businesses to ask questions and access data to make smarter decisions across industries, including in sales and marketing.
DeepL Releases Agentic Productivity Solution
DeepL, the translation AI startup, released an AI agent designed to automate workplace tasks. DeepL Agent acts on the user’s behalf – for example, the agent can analyse trends, generate content, and organise campaigns for marketers, while allowing the human user to input at any time.
Start-Up of the Week
Singapore-based Video Rebirth has raised $50m to develop a professional-grade AI video generation platform. Founded by former Tencent scientist Dr. Wei Liu, the startup’s “Physics Native Attention” architecture aims to deliver cinematic realism and launch its first product in December 2025.
Number of the Week
OpenAI announced it now serves over 1m business customers globally, making it the fastest-growing enterprise platform ever. With 7m ChatGPT for Work seats and new tools like AgentKit and Codex, companies including Cisco, Carlyle, and Lowe’s report major productivity gains from using the platform.
